Ignoring the Rain
by Bryony Honeysuckle
Summary: Chat Noir and Marinette have a chat. (Pun not intended.)
**Hiiiiiiii. If you are a reader of my Harry Potter fanfics, I HAVEN'T ABANDONED UWMA. I'm just a terrible person. You know that. Anyway, here's my first Miraculous fic! I have an idea to potential expand this or write a follow up full fic, but for now I think it'll be better as a one shot. Also I have commitment issues. Enjoy!**

 **~BH**

 **PS: Noticed a couple of typos so I changed them. Just so you know.**

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Ignoring the Rain

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was alone. The recent akuma attack was still raw in her mind. She caused this. It was all her fault.

 _No one could know._

It wasn't the sort of thing she could confide in people, _"I may have turned into my more confident and superior superhero alias because I was jealous."_ Luckily Tikki could feel her guilt so she was no longer chiding her for it. The guilt was radiating from her. _She caused pain to the point of destruction._ She continued to sit on the balcony, ignoring the rain. She knew the city was saved thanks to her and Chat Noir, but she couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't over. She knew Lila hadn't truly forgiven her. She also saw the look of disgust Adrien gave her ingrained in her mind. The only redeeming quality she thought she had over everyone else was the fact that she always tried to do good in the world. Now that was gone. She'd convinced herself one incident was enough to blacken her heart.

Chat Noir was "patrolling". Even when Ladybug wasn't there, he liked the sense of freedom he had, ignoring the irony of his rather constricting leather suit. His room was never checked after a certain time in the night, his father would never be able to fathom the thought of Adrien disobeying and staying awake past his bedtime. Now, he wasn't Adrien. He was Chat Noir.

The rain continued to pour, his bell ringing quietly as he leaped from building to building at rapid speed with the help of his extending baton. He could see the Dupain-Cheng bakery in the distance and a distant light on in the top room, and wondered what Marinette was up to. He wondered if she ever thought of him after the Nathanaël incident. She didn't seem to hate him, although she was as immune to his flirting as Ladybug was. This resistance made her even more interesting to him. He wondered why she stuttered around him as Adrien so much when he was basically the same person except in a different costume and a mask. Although deep down he knew this was a lie.

He lunged closer and closer to the bakery, and noticed a figure sat on the balcony, folded into itself. As he got closer again he noticed the figure was Marinette. He jerked to a halt and considered approaching her. If he was Adrien he would have had no chance: she could barely talk to him normally, he would have no chance if she was upset. He thought of whenever he comforted her or paid her a compliment before. Whenever he placed a hand on her shoulder she jerked back and looked up at him not in horror but in surprise. It didn't seem to be because she was repulsed by him. He didn't want to dwell on it too much. This was the least of his worries right now. He needed to focus on the problem at hand.

Marinette could distantly hear a familiar sound. She ignored it. She knew she had to ride out this guilt, and the coldness of the rain almost served as her punishment to herself. The noise stopped. She could once again only hear the onslaught of the rain and the ever present buzzing in her head.

"You're going to catch a cold." Chat Noir said by means of greeting, dropping down onto the balcony and twisting his staff awkwardly into his hands. Marinette continued to ignore him and tried to suppress her sobs. _She must not be seen as weak. Especially when she was the one who caused this._

"Marinette? Princess?" Chat persisted, crouching down so his green eyes were level with her blue ones. He ignored his blond hair plastered to his face by the rain, and the stiffness of his costume. Marinette slowly looked up. Her chin rested upon her knees, and Chat couldn't feel anything but pity, which is exactly what she didn't want from him, or anyone.

"You look happy", he said feebly, in a light-hearted attempt to make her smile. She shuddered, her face impassive. He edged closer. Marinette didn't move. She trusted him far more than he realised, but she couldn't bring herself to admit what she'd done. She'd briefly mentioned it as Ladybug, but he couldn't know the connection. If he knew she loved Adrien, his heart would be broken. Although she pushed him away she'd only recently realised how much he cared for her deep down, and didn't want to lead him on. She knew if she let him comfort her she'd be dragged into a deeper complicated mess. She didn't deserve any kindness today.

"Hi Chat" Marinette mumbled, avoiding his gaze. She figured if she talked to anyone about this, it would be him. Not that she could bring herself to. She heard faint pottering noises of her parents going to bed. She knew they wouldn't check her room. They trusted her.

Chat continued to look at her, and they eventually made eye contact. Their knees were almost touching.

"Mari, please talk to me" he whispered. He edged closer so their knees touched. She didn't move. The rain continued to pour. Her clothes were soaked through. Her eyes were now dry.

"I was so stupid." She muttered, giving up trying to be mysterious and aloof almost instantly. "I am so stupid." She pushed her wet hair out of her face and crossed her legs in front of her. Chat mimicked her position, also ignoring the rain.

"Hawkmoth is stupid. Pigeons are stupid. You, my princess, are not." He insisted, fiddling with the bell around his neck. She remained impassive. Chat knew this wasn't just a game to try and make her smile anymore, but he couldn't quite comprehend why she brought so much blame upon herself. She was just a girl, after all.

"You don't even know what I've done." Marinette tried not to snap at him, he hadn't done anything wrong after all. She couldn't understand his blind faith in her.

"I don't need to know what you've done. You don't have to tell me. It's okay." Chat replied, not wanting to force her to open up. After all, they'd only met once. Once more than he knew.

"I can't tell you what I've done." Marinette admitted. "But I did something stupid because I love someone far too much and I'm never going to be able to have the confidence to tell him. She had the confidence to make the first move and I was so jealous because of it." She shuddered in disgust, knowing she was trapped in an endless vicious cycle.

"Love sucks, am I right?" Chat agreed, moving again so he was sat next to her. They looked out across Paris, thankful for an excuse to avoid each others' gaze. Both were victims of unrequited love. So they thought.

"If you can't get the person you love, I have no hope." Marinette insisted, raising her eyebrows at him. _If only he knew._

"I guess just because my love will never be requited doesn't mean anyone else's can't be" He countered, placing his head in his hands. Marinette glanced at him. She was bumming everyone else out with her words. She sighed.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. He tilted his head, still resting on his knees. "It sounds so superficial. Some people might say it's only a crush. But when I can't even talk to him, I can't bear it when other girls find it so easy."

"Maybe there's so much tension between you two because you've held it all in for so long? You should tell me about him. Maybe the fact that you suppress it makes you on edge around him." He suggested quietly. He looked at her, the expression in his eyes suggesting an invitation. She accepted it.

"He's so… _good."_ Marinette started slowly. Chat gave her the patience she needed. "He always sees the best in everyone. Even the people who don't deserve it. He's so quiet and reserved, he looks so troubled. He deserves all the happiness in the world." Chat listened, almost wishing it was Ladybug talking about him.

"His personality is just as good as his looks." Marinette continued to ramble. "He's a model but he doesn't seem to enjoy it too much. I think he just wants to please his father. I mean, I made him a scarf for his birthday and he thought his father had given it to him, and he was so happy that his father had given him something that I couldn't bring myself to admit it was me- "

"Hold up" Chat interrupted, his head reeling. "You did that for him?" _This sounds too familiar. She can't be talking about me. No. Never._ He tried to remain impassive but it was too late.

"W-w-well, yes. I think he'd rather think it was from his father than me, I mean, I'm not very important in the grand scheme of things." She started to stutter, flustered by his bluntness. She definitely didn't think she was important to him after today. Today she ruined everything.

"One bad thing you may have done doesn't make you a terrible person." He insisted, trying to look impassive and process what she was saying at the same time. There aren't many models out there working for their fathers. "If my lady hated me a little more each time I complimented her or displayed my affections I'd be despised."

"I'm sure your lady appreciates it, deep down." She replied. Somehow, she was glad he was here. He was comfortingly familiar. She'd always noticed how much he looked like Adrien with his blonde hair and green eyes, but when he was calmer and not in the heat of battle he seemed to sound like him too.

"Even if she doesn't love me, I hope she knows I care about her, and always will." Chat said, more to himself than to her.

"She doesn't deserve you. You've saved her life more times than I've fallen over in the street" Marinette said, aware she was talking about herself. She never wanted Chat to feel the way she made Adrien feel today. She couldn't shake off that look of disappointment. Chat was one of her best friends, and she would always be grateful for the amount of times he's saved her life, or taken an akuma attack for her.

 _"If she only knew who I was"_

 _"If he only knew who I was"_

Chat silently pulled her into a hug. She shuffled awkwardly into his lap and collapsed onto his chest, the rain continuing to drip down their backs. Chat noticed how she felt so familiar. He was reminded of the time when he embraced Ladybug when he had thought she'd sacrificed herself… it was almost as if they were the same person. He pulled away slightly and looked into her eyes. She watched him cautiously, registering the sense of realisation in his eyes. Did he know?

"I hope you know that I'll always care for you, no matter who you love." Chat told her, before releasing his transformation. Marinette watched as the boy who enveloped her changed from her partner in crime, Chat Noir, to… Adrien Agreste.

"I really do think we should go inside though." He said, chuckling to himself in a way that made Marinette swoon on the spot. "You're going to get ill."

Marinette blindly fumbled for the trapdoor lid and Adrien followed her inside. It was only when they were in the light of her bedroom when they realised how much rain they were ignoring outside. They were both soaked through.

"I don't think you're a bad person, my Lady." Adrien said to a dumbstruck Marinette. "You'll never know the amount of times I've been jealous… you should hear what some of the guys say about you in your… costume."

"You didn't cause an akuma though" she mumbled, noting in panic the close proximity they were still in.

"Actually, I did." He admitted. "Remember the statue of us we were supposed to unveil together that you couldn't get to? I said that you were my lover and he got jealous…"

"I guess we're both terrible people then." Marinette smiled shyly at him. Adrien grinned at her, and pulled her closer.

"Can you exclusively be _my_ terrible person?" He smirked, a Chat Noir style wave of confidence washing over him as he held her with the grace of his normal, Adrien-like self. He needed to start merging the two personalities instead of segregating himself so much, so Marinette could love both forms equally. Marinette was thinking about exactly the same thing. How could two people be so similar yet so different?

Marinette didn't want to ruin anything with words, so she simply tiled her head and closed the already minuscule gap between them. It was a kiss of apologies, a kiss of impatience and a kiss of them both finally getting what they truly wanted. They eventually pulled apart, their foreheads still touching, their arms still wrapped in an embrace as if they were making the most of every chance they had.

"I should probably go." Adrien muttered, not hiding his own disappointment in those four words. Marinette sighed, and reluctantly slipped her arms from his shoulders. As he turned to climb up the ladder, Marinette called to stop him.

"You might need this for the rain."

Adrien took the large black umbrella from her, taking care to linger over her hand as he did.

"Thank you, my Lady." He whispered.


End file.
